Chapter 64

The last week of April.

The planned period for social activities was one month. I had been diligently active, and now only this afternoon’s opera performance and tomorrow’s dinner party hosted by Viscount Magabazi remained.

“The Duke has sent word that it will be difficult for him to have tea time today as well.”

And for various reasons, Nine had been refusing tea time since his return from the Blueberry estate. Since he only went between the Imperial Palace and his office inside the townhouse, it was hard for me to meet him as he became a recluse.

‘There isn’t much time left until we part anyway. Preparing for this separation isn’t necessarily bad.’

I internally consoled myself, slightly disappointed by his changed demeanor. I couldn’t help the downcast feeling, though.

And it seemed this subtle tension between us was a concern for everyone in the townhouse as well.

“Lady Chacha. There is an opera performance—how about going to see it?”

A while ago, Annie brought up news of a performance by an opera singer I had liked since my academy days, seemingly trying to lift my spirits.

Feeling sorry for making her worry, I forced a smile and said, “Hmm, should I? I wish we could still get tickets, even though it’s late.”

“We’ll be able to get them!” Annie answered excitedly when I readily agreed.

Looking at the schedule, it seemed unlikely there would be any tickets left as the performance was soon, but if I put my mind to it, it wouldn’t be hard to get them. There were always people trying to leave a good impression for the sake of an in with the Duchess, and even if not, money always solved many problems.

I didn’t want to use the position I would soon relinquish, so I subtly told Laura to try and get tickets by offering a premium price.

“And Annie, please make a restaurant reservation. Since it’s a rare outing, let’s have lunch together before coming back.”

“Kyaak, really?”

Annie and Laura smiled brightly, looking delighted.

I gave a small laugh watching them. As my closest maids, they must have been most mindful of my mood, so I wanted to give them a change of pace, and their reaction was better than I expected.

Annie and Laura, who were already listing restaurants in the capital, chatted excitedly for a while before suddenly lowering their voices as if they were mindful of me.

Just as I was about to tell them to speak comfortably, Annie cautiously asked me, “Um, Lady Chacha. Since it’s a rare performance, why don’t you mention it to the Duke?”

“…”

When I remained silent for a moment, Annie and Laura looked even more anxious. I immediately shook my head.

“No. He seems very busy these days, so let’s go quietly.”

“Yes…”

I deliberately ignored the two who looked disappointed.

I didn’t know why, but I didn’t want to force myself to bridge the gap with Nine, which had widened again. The time to reveal the truth about the love potion incident was fast approaching.

‘After that, I’ll divorce him right away.’

So, this was actually a good opportunity. The saying that absence makes the heart grow fonder is not without reason. If the time I spend without seeing Nine increases like this, perhaps I’ll feel less pain from this emotion.

I tried to push away my sinking feelings and focus on positive thoughts.

***

Fortunately, we were able to get tickets for a box seat at the opera. As expected, all seats were sold out by the time Annie brought it up, and these tickets were acquired by offering a premium price.

‘It’s been a long time since I’ve watched a performance.’

In my past life, I was a fan of idols, and in this life, I was completely captivated by the opera singer performing today. To what extent? I went to see all of his performances throughout my academy years.

I couldn’t help but feel excited to see the performance of my favorite singer after so long.

“I’m so excited!”

“Me too, truly. They said it’s very hard to see that singer perform!”

Annie and Laura, standing next to me, couldn’t hide their enthusiastic voices. Their excitement wasn’t just because of the performance.

“And the dresses are so beautiful, Lady Chacha!”

Since I wanted the rare outing to be low-key, I had them wear my dresses. Just so we would look like friends of a similar age.

Seeing their expressions full of giddy excitement, I gave a small smile and left the townhouse. Their reaction was so charming that I thought I could spend the entire day without thinking about Nine.

“Oh, I think that’s the carriage.”

In front of the townhouse was a simple, common carriage, not a luxurious one engraved with the ducal family’s crest. I wanted to go quietly, and taking the ducal carriage would have defeated the purpose.

As we approached the carriage, the coachman bowed his head.

“Please take good care of me today, Madam.”

The coachman seemed to be a veteran who had carried many nobles. Even though I was dressed in a way that wasn’t much different from Annie and Laura, he correctly greeted me.

“Yes, thank you for your trouble.”

I acknowledged his greeting appropriately and immediately got into the carriage.

However, my belief that the coachman was a veteran changed less than ten minutes after the carriage started.

‘M-Motion sickness!’

The carriage was comfortable and clean, though it couldn’t be compared to the top-grade carriage I rode every day.

‘Wow, that thought I just had sounded really spoiled.’

Well, I am spoiled in this world.

In any case, it was a relatively decent carriage, so the reason it felt this uncomfortable was definitely the coachman’s driving skill. Even though they were in the same capital, the Eclipse Duchy townhouse and the destination, Salem, the Street of Culture, were on opposite sides, so it required an hour of travel by carriage.

‘I can’t let this get worse. I need to close my eyes and sleep for a bit.’

I yawned slightly and said to Annie and Laura, who were sitting opposite me. 

“Annie, Laura. I’m going to close my eyes for a little while. Wake me up when we arrive, huaaam.”

“Yes. We will!”

Despite feeling unwell, as soon as I closed my eyes, sleep poured over me. I surrendered myself to slumber.

***

I opened my eyes, feeling inexplicably refreshed. Huh, how long did I sleep?

“Hmm?”

I looked around the carriage and saw Annie and Laura, who were sitting opposite me, asleep.

“Annie…”

Just as I was about to wake them up, I suddenly realized that it was noisy outside.

What is it? A strange feeling made me tilt my head and reach for the window to open it, but then I realized the source of the discomfort.

‘Wait, the carriage has stopped.’

There was no jolting motion of a moving carriage at all. Moreover, the light entering through the curtains on the window was an orange color, like the sunset.

‘Wait, sunset?!’

A shiver ran down my spine, and my mind snapped awake. Only then did I realize that the commotion outside was serious.

I leaned down and cautiously lifted the curtain to look outside.

“…Hup!”

And immediately clapped my hand over my mouth to stifle a scream.

The first things I saw outside the window were a dense forest, and the coachman. In the middle of the forest, where the road wasn’t properly maintained, the coachman lay face down in a pool of blood on the dirt.

Clang!

Cha-aeng!

The sharp sound of blades clashing pierced my ears.

‘That is.’

Two low-ranking knights in the silver wolf uniform of the Silver Wolf Knights were confronting about a dozen armed men.

My heart began to pound heavily. I was breathless with tension.

‘No.’

As someone who also wielded a sword, I immediately knew. It was impossible for those two knights to hold off that group alone. Even if I joined in, I couldn’t guarantee survival.

At this rate, Nine’s subordinates would be lost, and Annie and Laura, who were with me, would definitely be killed to silence them.

‘No.’

I quickly racked my brain, forgetting to breathe. Was there a way for everyone here to live?

Their target was obviously me, but I didn’t want the others with me to die.

‘Ah.’

Yes, their target is definitely me.

Recalling that fact, I immediately leapt out of the carriage.

“Stop!”

The masked men who were approaching the fallen knights stopped their steps and stared at me. Their cold, emotionless stares and the wide, shocked gazes of the knights met mine.

I was startled by the murderous intent that felt like a tingle on my skin, but I calmly pulled out the dagger from my pocket. It was a gift from Wilhelm when I was young.

I drew the dagger and pointed it at my throat without hesitation.

“Lady Chacha…!”

One of the knights looked at me and cried out in a surprised voice.

However, I didn’t turn to look at him, keeping my eyes fixed on the black-clad group who were glaring at me as if to kill me.

‘If their objective was my assassination, they wouldn’t need to waste time fighting the knights.’

Since there were about a dozen of them, one or two could have easily rushed the carriage and killed me, but they didn’t. What they wanted was not my life, but myself.

I pressed the dagger closer to my neck.

“If I am your target, don’t harm the others! If you promise, I will follow you quietly.”